Storing plant for piece goods



, March 12, 1935. M. ANGERPOINTNER STORING PLANT FOR PIECE GOODS Filed July 10, 1931 I 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 12, 1935. M. ANGERPOINTNER 1,994,032

STORING PLANT FOR PIECE GOODS Filed July 10, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 12, 1935. I M. ANGERPOINTNER STORING PLANT FOR PIECE GOODS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 10, 1951 March '12, 193 K M. ANGERPOINTNER STORING PLANT FOR PIECE GOODS Filed Jui 10, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Mar. 12, 1935 v 1,994,032; 7 sfromNG NT FOR PIEC Goons Matthias Angel-pointer, Djuron, near Norr- I m-koping, Sweden Application July 10,, 1931, Serial No. 550,022

3, 2-Claims. 1 (c1. 1 o4 91) 1* 'This invention. relates to storing/plants" for piece goods: .Such goods were heretofore gen-' erally stored inpiles andmost of the piling and transportation :work waszmade' by hand. For manykinds of goods, such as tobacco bales, it was thennecessary to re-pile-the pieces of goods very. often, to admit the air also to'thosesides of 'thepieces'of goods which in the piles-rest againstneach other or against the floor. If not re-piled frequently, the tobacco in the bales will assume diiierent quality, different taste and percentage of nicotine in those sides to which the airwas admitteclduring the-.storing in piles as comparedwith those sides from'iwhich the air .was then .,exc1.uded. Similar": facts prevail i in other ,cases. Such re-piling which is substantially made by hand,1is; of course, very expensive.

The chief; object of this invention is to overcome these and other inconveniences and to pro-'- vide for a storing plant. for: piece goods in which suchgoods; are stored, enterecland' taken out substantially without any: manual labour and in which the air, has free admission to all sides of the :pieces of goods stored. Fjurther advantages of the inv ntion. will be. evident'fr'om the following specification.-

With theseobjects inview the invention consists, chieflyin this, that the pieces of goods to be stored are= hel d by holders or carriers running on rollers on one or;mor,e slanting suspend- ,ed tracks or rails having stoppers at or near their lower ends to which, all-pieces-with their holders automaticallyroll. H v Y One embodiment of the inventionis illustrated in the annexed drawings. 7 Fig.1 shows a vertical sectionthrough a storing plant in accordance withthe invention, For the sake of clearness only one of the three car- .rying rails is shown in this figure.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section oi the same plant, substantially on the broken line.II'II inFig. 1. In this figure, all the three carrying rails, are shown- 2- I v Fig. 3 shows a detail on a largerfscale in a vertical section on the line III-III in Fig. 2. m Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of;a modification.

In the drawings 1 indicates the mill and Staring building in which the storing space 3 proper has the shape'ofwa vertical shaft extending through all stories of the building without any partition floors. The piece goods to be stored, such as flour-sacks, tobacco ;or coffee bales, -etc.,

is on the uppermost story 3 placed into holders .or parriers \running on wheels or'rollers ona frames 13, 21 are building 1.

track 4 suspended from the ceiling of said story.

" A suitable construction of such holders or car riers is shown in my U. S. Patent No. 1,864,114, though any other well-known or suitable car riers'may be used. 1

Thepiece goods may be suspended in the holderseither in a special operation or in connection with the weighing-and packing of the goods. The piece goods holder may be moved on the rail 4 by a ropeor chain carrying suitable catching-devices. Inthis case the rail 4 may be a siding from a suspended railway by'which the piece goods aretransported through the story 3 from packing machines or the like, not shown,

in this story.

The inletrail 4 is byx-means' of. a switch 5- con- ,One end of the switches 5,10 is rotatable on stationary. vertical rods 5a,, 10a while the other ends are carried by arms 51),- 1012 having rollers rollingon tracks. 50,100, having the shape of circular segments, substantially as shown.

. l The detailedgconstruction of the rail system is bestseen froml ig; 3. From the ceiling of the buildingwvertical beams 11 project downward supportingthe carrying girders 12 and the uppermost turn ofthe spiral rails 6, 7, 8. From the girders,12 iron, frames 13 are suspended,

fixed to each other bymeans of rivets or bolts l4to form closed loops, giving sufficient free space tolet a piece goods carrier 15 with a suspended piece 16 of goods pass freely. The car,- rier 15 consists of a wagon 17 rolling onthe corresponding" rail, two gripping arms 18 and an operating lever -19 serving to open and close the gripping arms. I Avery good construction of the carrier is shown in my US. Patent No. 1,864,114.

At their lower ends the frames 13 carrygirders 20 analogous to the girders 12. Said girders 201carrythe'next lower turn of the spiral rails 6, "7, 8 and also carry frames 21' analogous to the frames 13. The frames 21 carry new carry jing girders and new turns of the spiral rails etc.

throughout the. whole j shaft. The outermost secured to the walls of the The frames 13, 21 serve to carry the rails 6, 7, 8 and at the same time to stabilize them in the lateral direction. By this simple construction the spiral rails get a very good stability without any use of partition floors, columns or the like in the store-room 2. The space available may thus be utilized very effectively.

At the ends 62), 7b, 8b of the rails 6, '7, 8 stops 22 are provided serving to stop goods carriers 15 running on said rails. 'l heastops 22 may be removed or turned to an inoperative position by hand or by electrical or mechanical means permitting actuation of said stops selectively from a distant point. Below the outlet "rail 9 a chute 23 is provided discharging into a railway car 24 or the like. Above this chute an oblique stationary rail 25 is provided serving to actuate the operating lever 19 of the carriers i to re lease automatically the goods from said carriers when they pass by said rail 25 at the discharge operation. The pieces of goods thus released fall down into the chute :23 land slide to the car 24.

The rail9 is bent laterally :and ends at a point 26, at which the empty carriers are taken nil from the rail. 1 v

The gradient or incline of the railszfi, 7, -8 should be chosen so as to .give the carriers with their loads .a suitable constant and .not too high velocity after they have been accelerated :at rthe first portion of the trails. If :steel rails are used and the carrier has ball bearings for :its rollers a gradient of L9 to 2%,somewhat-less-onstraight lines and somewhat more in the curves, is gen erally fit and gives a constant velocity of :about 0.5 m/sec for normal carriers with bags weighing .100 kg. .At this velocity the piece 'of goods is not swung out in the cin'ves and the shock against the stops 22 or the preceding carriers, when the following carrier ;is stopped, quite harmless.

The *piece goods to be stored is entered ron ithe inlet rail 4 suspended in :carriers 15, as mentioned above, and said carriers are then switched .to any of the rails 6, f7, 8. For-instance, aacertain quality of the piece goods may be switched :to the rail 6, another qualityto the m1 "'1 andrstill another quality to the 1rail18. As soon asn' carrier with its suspended 'load has been -.switched to one of said rails 6, 7, 8 it begins rolling :automatically downward on the inclined :rail and is first accelerated during a short and then attains a- 'constan't velocity. Thecarri'erwith itrs load will continue rolling downwards until it is checked by the-corresponding stop 22. IT- more than one carrier is switched to the same rail the carriers with their loads will be suspended in a spiral row above the stops 22. Each rail "6, '7, 8 can evidently carryz a spiral row of such carriers'to ailengthcorresponding substantiaily'to the total length of said Frail.

When the :goods :is to be discharged :from :the

store-house, the supervisor need =only' open one of the stops 22 after the switch 10 :has :beemconnected'with therail'inzquestion. Then the corresponding row of carriers automatically will move forwards and downwards. When the carriers pass the releasing device25 .theyare opened automatically and let their loads .fall down into the chute 23 .to be transported to the transporting vehicle 24. The empty carriers fall down at 26 and are returned to the room'3in any well-known manner, .for instanceby an elevator or the like. The discharge rail 9 may, however, have/its end 26 connected with the rail 4. In such case the empty carriers are lifted by a chain or rope with catchers or in any other manner.

The supervisor can easily control and count the pieces of goods passing the stop 22. When a sufiicient number has passed, the stop 22 is again turned to its operative position to stop the carriers. It is evident that one single man may effect and control the distribution of goods from the store-house.

"The store-plant described has many advantages not attained by the store-plants heretofore (known. Thus, the distribution of goods from theplant may be efiected by one man only who operates the stops 22 and simultaneously con- .trols the number :of pieces delivered and also regulates the number of pieces per unit of time to agree with the working capacity of the stowers stowing'the goods in the vehicle 24. The pieces .obgoods on a certain rail which have been stored during the longest time in the plant, are delivered :first. During the storing the pieces 10f goods are surrounded by :air on all sides and are not pressed against each other :to any appreciable degree. This is very valuable, especially for storing tobacco bales :and the like, which must be sin-rounded by air :on all sides, as -.stated .above. The cleaning and also the .ex- .tirpation of vermins, rats, etc. ibytuse :ofzpoisonous gases'is also highly f-acilitated, because the pieces .of goodsrare suspended freely. 'The conditions of life :for vermins, 'etc., are also per 'se very poor when the pieces of good'siare Isuspen'dedlike this. For provisions, such 'as flour, such storing is ideal andvery hygienic. '.'I'he number of workmen required for -the storing and distribution work and ".for taking care of the :goods during the zstoring is consequently extremely "reduced in comparison with thatineeded in' the usual storing plants.

In the modification shown "in Fig. '4, which is .a horizontal :section :similar to that of Fig. 2, there are shown three individual inlet rails 4, 4a, 4b, which may selectively lie-connected with one 0f the three parallel rails 6, "7, 3 by means of switches 5d, 5e. The opposite ends 6b, 7b, 8b of the rails 6, '7, 8 may "in a-similar manner be selectively connected with three indiwidual outletor-discharge rails 9, 9a, '9bby means of switches 10d, 10c. The switches 5d, 5e, 10d, We may he actuated manually, or electrically, or mechanically from a distant point. To each of the outletrails'e, 9a, 9b adischarge chute23, 23a, 23b respectively is-coordinated'an-d said three outlet rails all end at 26, where the empty carriers fall down. Individual slanting rails 25, 25a, 251) are providedat-each'of the outlet rails torelease the goods from the carriers. "In other respects this embodiment is quitesimilar to that shown in Figs. 1-3 and corresponding parts carry the same reference characters. The ,mode of operation is analoguous 'to that of the embodiment shown inFigs. 1-3, though in'the embodiment of Fig. 4 pieces of goods may be taken in from different inlet rails and discharged on different outlet -rails.

It is evident that the number of rails 6, 7, 8 is arbitrary. Only one or two rails may be used but also more than three rails, "if desired. The store-house is preferably built with round cornersyas shown.

The discharge devices 9, '10, '23, 25 may be modified after the actual need. For discharging into ships "special arrangements may be made, =as'well-knownin the art. "Ina'single rail system the carrying rail can be directly connected with the inlet and outlet rails without any intermediate switches. In some cases straight rails 6, '7, 8 may be used. Also other modifications made be made within the scope of my invention.

What I claim is: 1. In a storing plant for piece goods, in combination, a building, beams projecting downwardly from the ceiling of said building, a-number of interconnected iron frames forming loops,

girders attached to said beams, other girders attached to said iron frames, slanting rails attached to said beams and to said girders, carriers running on rollers on said rails, stoppers on said rails substantially at the lower ends thereof and adapted to stop said carriers in rows on said rails and to let them pass, and releasable means on rollers on said rails, stoppers on said rails substantially at the lower ends thereof and adapted to stop said carriers in rows on said rails and to let them pass, and releasable jaws on said carriers 15 to hold a load in suspension below said rails.

MATTHIAS ANGERPOINTNER. 

